Wait, Did Black Clover Actually Kill Asta?

Black Clover is now in the middle of an extended break while series creator Yuki Tabata prepares for the final arc, and one burning question that is now on all our minds is whether or not Asta has somehow died already. The Spade Kingdom Raid arc officially came to an end when Asta and the others were able to defeat the supreme devil Lucifero, and one thing fans had taken note of during the course of the arc was the fact that none of the characters actually died. It's not an uncommon occurrence in the series overall, but what could be uncommon is how it actually happened.

It was revealed in the final moments of the arc that the true enemy of the final arc overall will be the fourth Zogratis sibling, Lucius Zogratis. Not only that, but his devil is actually Astaroth, the devil who commands time magic. There are still so many questions about what this will mean for the future, but now that time magic has been fully introduced as an antagonistic force, it's now time to look back and wonder what that has meant for Asta. Has Asta actually died in the heat of battle or in some other way? Did time rewrite itself in order to bring us to this point? 

Way back in Chapter 215 of Black Clover (when Julius Novachrono had returned to life following the fight with Patry), it was teased that Asta was in danger of dying thanks to the connection to the devils. Back then it had seemed like it was because his tenuous connection to his devil back then was slowly damaging his body, but now that it's been revealed that Julius was in fact Lucius, it kind of puts that into new context. Couple this with the "clock theory" stating that Lucius had rewound time during the Lucifero fight to make sure Asta would win (and this Lucifero's core could be obtained), and it's sparked some major questions about the young Wizard King to be. 

That theory posits that there were many deaths during the Spade Kingdom Raid, but time had gone backwards to save them in order to get a better result. If Asta indeed was caught up in all of this (and somehow didn't realize this himself), then it would make that original prediction of his death come true. It's admittedly hard to believe such a massive turn of events, but that's also because we have seen so little of how time magic actually works. And if Julius' version of time magic was incomplete somehow, then Lucius and Astaroth's could have that kind of control over the universe. 

We've already seen the kind of power the other three devils had over their respective elements, but time is a different matter altogether. The brief flash we have seen of Lucius thus far seems to indicate a far flung plan that accounted for Lucifero's defeat (and even needed for it to happen), so it's not hard to imagine that the time devil also somehow made this possible. With the devil's name also so closely tied to Asta's, there just might be something even deeper than expected. And maybe a death or two. 

What do you think? Is it possible that Asta had already died in Black Clover's run so far? When do you think it could have happened? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!